


And A Happy Nightmare To You Too

by MissRomanceJunkie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, But in a non-sexualised way, Christmas Party, Comedy, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Crossdressing, First Kiss, Fluff, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Nightmare Before Christmas References, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 10:09:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11987646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRomanceJunkie/pseuds/MissRomanceJunkie
Summary: “Remind me why I’m here again,” Bucky muttered to nobody in particular as he followed his friends into the Hotel’s ballroom.“Because even after twenty years of friendship, you’re no more resistant to Steve’s Puppy Eyes than anyone else,” Clint responded. Bucky caught the flash of a smirk on Natasha’s lips before she slipped seamlessly into the crowd, disappearing almost instantly. Knowing Natasha, she was probably making her way towards the bar before she settled herself into a dark corner somewhere to watch everyone else enjoying the extravagant Christmas party.After being strongly encouraged by Steve to join him and their friends in attending a costumed Chrismas party hosted by Tony Stark and supporting the Maria Stark Foundation among other charities, Bucky decides to go all out with his costume and dresses up as Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (Shut up Steve, itisa Christmas film!)Little does Bucky know that Tony couldn't agree with him more.~~~Written for an anonymous Tumblr prompt which, due to spoilers, can be found in the end notes.





	And A Happy Nightmare To You Too

**Author's Note:**

> So this one's been sat in my Tumblr inbox for a while, waiting for the right ending to be written so I'm sorry it's taken so long Anon! I think I got just about everything in that you wanted and I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. One of my favourite pieces of my own writing for sure. :)
> 
> Enjoy! :D

“Remind me why I’m here again,” Bucky muttered to nobody in particular as he followed his friends into the Hotel’s ballroom.

“Because even after twenty years of friendship, you’re no more resistant to Steve’s Puppy Eyes than anyone else,” Clint responded. Bucky caught the flash of a smirk on Natasha’s lips before she slipped seamlessly into the crowd, disappearing almost instantly. Knowing Natasha, she was probably making her way towards the bar before she settled herself into a dark corner somewhere to watch everyone else enjoying the extravagant Christmas party.

It was the event of the year, or so Steve had said when he started his campaign to sell the idea to Bucky. Looking around though, Bucky couldn’t really argue with the assessment. Tasteful decorations in red and gold covered every available space, brief flashes of natural green interrupting the sparkle and dazzle where holly wreaths and mistletoe hung.

“Yeah yeah, at least I didn’t spend three weeks with my hair dyed purple because I was stupid enough to fall for the Innocent Eyes.”

“He rigged that bet and you know it!”

“Never seen you look so outraged,” Sam put in as Bucky chuckled. If he had to attend a costume party on Christmas Eve at least he had a good bunch of people with him.

Besides, his costume was going to get him Belle Of The Ball, no question.

Clint had jumped at the chance to stick on a silver wig and cover himself in glitter as Martin Short’s Jack Frost, while Natasha had ditched her black and more black wardrobe for the night to don a pure white angel costume complete with wings and a halo. The dress hugged her figure perfectly but wasn’t so short to be deemed as inappropriate like a few of the other guests Bucky could see scattered throughout the ballroom. The fishnets were a nice touch in Bucky’s opinion and a nice way to screw with Steve since the man had expressly forbidden her from wearing the sexy fallen angel outfit she’d had her eye on. Really, the costume was already wrong on so many levels, the top reason being it was being worn by _Natasha_.

Sam was towering over everyone in a thick red rubber suit, a gold ‘T’ that marked him as Turbo Man plastered across his chest and a smile that proved he was as happy as could be about it. By his side was Steve, forever the traditionalist, who was probably going to combust inside the hefty Santa suit he was wearing. Bucky was surprised Steve hadn’t used his inhuman powers of persuasion to convince his boyfriend to wear a couples costume with him but having seen how excited Sam had been to find the adult size superhero outfit himself, Bucky couldn’t blame his best friend for indulging the guy, even if it was their first Christmas together.

It was Bucky’s outfit that had taken the longest to prepare though; he figured if he was going to be dragged along to this shindig anyway, he might as well be damned sure he had the best costume there.

Every section of cloth had been hand stitched to get the look Bucky wanted, as close to the character as possible. He could have asked one of his friends do it and they’d have been both happy to help and a lot faster since fine motor functions were a struggle sometimes, even with a prototype Stark prosthetic, but doing it himself was important to him. He’d come back from the army a changed man in many ways and not all of them were as visible as the missing arm.

Unfortunately, his makeup had turned out to be too tricky to manage to the standard he’d wanted to achieve. He’d put the white base on fine and the faux stitches on his face had looked alright but his attempts to replicate the fine black lines on most of the rest of his body failed miserably, no matter how many times he had redone them. Thankfully, Natasha, being the goddess she was, had seen him struggling and on the verge of a panic attack and had offered to help him with the bits he couldn’t get to with his fleshy hand.

The wig had taken over a fortnight to track down but it didn’t itch and was just the right shade of red so the extra effort had been worth it, even if it had cost him a pretty penny to get the longest length. The jewel in Bucky’s crown though was the arm stuffed with straw that hung limply at his side, fixed onto his shoulder by a couple of clips that would detach with hardly any effort.

Bucky couldn’t wait for someone to knock into him.

All in all, he felt he was channeling Sally to perfection and from his friends’ reactions, that wasn’t just him bragging. Steve, of course, had moaned through the whole process about how The Nightmare Before Christmas wasn’t actually a Christmas film but when it came time to put on the dress, his best friend had been the one to help him into it.

“You want to grab a drink or do you want to dance?” Steve said as they watched Clint make his way to the dance floor. There weren’t so many people that the place felt too crowded to move but then that was probably more to do with the size of the place than the number of people attending Stark Industry’s Annual Christmas Party. There’d be a buffet later on and Sam had told him that there’d be a charity auction too, run by the Maria Stark Foundation and Bucky had tried really hard not to think about the ‘A Night With Tony Stark’ prize that some guy had won last year.

It had been all over the papers for a week but then with that choice of words, no-one would have expected any less. He’d heard through the grapevine (read: from a talkative nurse at an arm fitting) that Mr. Stark had whisked the lucky winner off on one of his private jets for an extravagant meal at one of the most distinguished restaurants in Paris, only to personally escort him all the way back to his apartment building in Queens the very same night.

The kiss Mr. Stark had placed on his hand had made the front page.

“Buck?”

“Huh?”

“Drink or dancing?” Steve repeated and Bucky was glad his make up would hide any sudden colouring to his cheeks.

“Drink. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise just yet,” Bucky answered, inclining his head towards the detachable arm.

“I’ll join you then,” Steve smiled, obviously not wanting to leave Bucky alone. “After everything that’s gone down this year… Let’s make this Christmas a good one, alright?”

Sometimes Bucky grabbed hold of these offers with both hands, never one to socialise much anymore and really, he should have been laying it on thick after Steve had all but forced him to come with them tonight. However, his friend had been right about one thing. Bucky couldn’t keep on hiding from the world if he wanted to be a part of it again and what better way to get back into the swing of things than a party where he could scare the living crap out of someone.

He _really_ couldn’t wait for someone to knock into him.

“Nah, you’re alright. Go take your guy there for a spin on the dance floor because you know once the food comes out he won’t get a look in for a while.”

“Shut up,” Steve grouched and Sam knocked their shoulders together before taking his hand and pulling him in the direction Clint went.

“See you in a bit, Buck,” Sam called over his shoulder and Bucky couldn’t help but smile. His friends were happy, honestly happy, and Bucky couldn’t be happier for them.

He reached the bar without incident and after a while, he got chatting to a nice couple who were visiting their son for the holidays when they had spotted the party advertised in the paper. They’d thought it would probably be too late to get ahold of some tickets so late, especially since the event was both free and open to the public, but they’d called the number in the ad on the off chance and were told two tickets had just become available.

The couple expressed how lucky they’d felt but Bucky doubted luck had much to do with it. The gentleman was dressed as an army man, presumably from White Christmas if his wife's red gown and the Santa hat on his head were anything to go by, except his outfit was the real deal and there was nothing “costume” about the medals pinned to his chest. Bucky wouldn’t put it past Mr. Stark to have his staff run down the names of each caller and give out tickets accordingly. Looking around, he couldn’t spot a single fake smile in the room which told Bucky that there were no socialites here, no one who had been to so many of these type of events that one more wouldn’t mean much to them. No, for everyone here this event would be the highlight of their Christmas, if not their whole year.

It was both heartwarming and terrifying to imagine Mr. Stark looking through his history and then offering him the chance to attend. It should have felt like charity but instead, Bucky only felt grateful acceptance. This was a good thing Mr. Stark was doing here and after visiting Stark Industries and meeting the man himself briefly a couple of times, Bucky knew the whole idea would have been Stark’s himself.

Then again, it wasn’t like Mr. Stark wouldn’t already know everything about Bucky, having personally offered Bucky a place on the prototype prosthetics trial. It was only bad luck in the way of schedule clashes, over-running conferences and emergency board meetings that had prevented them from spending more time together, like Bucky new the other test subjects had. He still couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing considering his not-so-small crush but he guessed he’d find out the answer to that soon enough, considering Mr. Stark always did the first evaluation of each subject’s progress with their arm himself. Bucky’s appointment was in a couple of weeks and in the privacy of his own mind, he’d admit to feeling butterflies already.

After the couple had wandered off for a slow dance together, his friends came and joined him for a drink every now and then but it wasn’t too long before everyone was sat around large circular tables, stuffing their faces with the best party food money could buy.

Bucky talked and laughed and forgot about how hard his year had been.

Someone clinked a crystal glass over the loud speakers and the sound in the room naturally died down to a rosy silence.

“Stark Industries and the Maria Stark Foundation would like to thank you all for joining us in our Christmas celebrations this year. I hope everyone has a great time and that it carries on into the new year and beyond.” The pretty red head speaking was Miss Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts if Bucky wasn’t mistaken. He hadn’t had much contact with her himself but he’d heard nothing but good things from SI’s staff. “Now, may I introduce your host for the evening: Mr. Tony Stark.”

Clapping and cheers filled the ballroom as Mr. Stark himself walked onto the dance floor that had been left in the centre of the tables.

“Thank you, thank you, I know, I have that reaction when I see me too.” Laughter petered through the captive audience and Mr. Stark’s smile softened into something a little more real.

Bucky was surprised he’d noticed the man was talking at all though because stood in the centre of the open space was Jack Skellington. Well, no, not Jack himself, obviously, but considering the thought and detail that had gone into the costume, it might as well have been.

Bucky and Tony Stark were the perfect match.

An elbow dug into his ribs and he turned to find Steve’s shocked face as Clint struggled and failed to hold in his laughter. What came out was a loud snigger that drew dirty looks from the tables around them. Luckily, Mr. Stark didn’t even glance their way before going on to talk about the Foundation's accomplishments that year. Even as Bucky tried to get Clint to _shut the fuck up_ , it didn’t escape his notice that not a word about Stark Industries’ many successes was mentioned.

“Seriously, I’m going to kill you,” Bucky virtually growled but Sam had started to look constipated and even Steve was coughing uncontrollably into his hand, much to his obvious embarrassment as he waved his apologies to the people around him. Luckily, most of the people around them had cottoned on and were joining them in their amusement. Natasha, on the other hand, was the epitome of calm and Bucky wasn’t sure whether she was going for unsurprised with this turn of events, or if she was simply hoping the security staff wouldn’t realise she was with the rest of them when Clint got them all kicked out.

“But- But you’re wearing-” Clint had to break off as he and Sam burst into giggles and fell into each other.

“Well, now I have to know what’s so funny,” Bucky heard a voice say from behind him and he belatedly realised the speech was over and the rest of the room had returned their own conversations. Clearly, their host had decided to track down the source of the ruckus during his speech.

Bucky was glad he had his back to the man but there’d be no way of hiding his outfit for long, not when his friends were so clearly waiting for things to click into place.

“Mr. Stark, it’s a real pleasure. You certainly know how to throw a good party,” Steve said, holding out his hand to the genius from his place beside Bucky. “Steve Rogers and this is my partner Sam.”

Bucky saw Sam roll his eyes with affection as he too pulled himself together. Never did Steve miss an opportunity to introduce him as his partner, whether that was because he liked the sound of it after they’d wasted so much time pining over each other or because Steve was just a possessive bastard, Bucky could never make up his mind.

“Call me Tony,” the man in question said as he shook the offered hand, reaching over Bucky’s false arm to do so and making Bucky freeze with both anticipation and horror. The appendage remained where it was and a quick glance at Natasha showed he wasn’t the only one with mixed emotions about that.

“Please forgive us for the noise, Tony. Hope we didn’t distract you too much, my friends here don’t get day passes very often.”

“Rude. I’m perfectly sane, thank you. Clint Barton, at your service,” Clint crooned and Tony chuckled at the over the top flirting and salute. “And you really will forgive us when you see-”

Natasha must have kicked him under the table because Clint’s sharp cry was followed by visual daggers thrown her way.

“Natasha,” she said, bowing her head slightly towards Tony while she covertly assessed him. “Steve’s right, nice party you’ve got here.” Her words were friendly enough but had that slight edge to them that she tended to get when talking to anyone but her friends. Bucky knew it was all just caution after a life full of bad choices but he could see how to others, she might come off as cold.

It was the desire to see how Tony responded to Natasha, more than anything else, that made Bucky turn his head. Their host’s smile was small but still managed to reach his eyes and he wasn’t the only one being charmed by it if the subtle release of tension across Nat’s shoulders was anything to go by. Unfortunately, by the time Bucky remembered exactly why he hadn’t jumped at the chance to introduce himself to this gorgeous, inspirational man, it was far too late.

Wide eyes met his own as the whole table seemed to hang on an inhale. The moment of silent surprise went on longer than it should have as Bucky and Tony each gave the other a thorough look up and down. It should be funny right? Bucky was pretty sure they should be laughing about great minds by now but there was a weight to the air around them, to the look in Tony’s deep brown eyes as they caught and held Bucky’s own once again.

“Hi there.” Words. A greeting. Some kind of response was definitely necessary at this point.

Somewhere in his mind, there was a voice that sounded suspiciously like Steve’s telling him he was an idiot.

“Yeah! Hi, hey, how you doing?”

If Bucky could have left right then and there he might have done. As it was, Tony was blocking his way and he really didn’t want to embarrass himself any more than he already had by attempting to shuffle past him. God, why had he thought this was a good idea? His outfit couldn’t hold a candle to Tony’s, surely. Yeah, he’d put the time in but the money he had could only do so much. The thought was quiet and paled in comparison to his most pressing concern, though. What if Tony thought he’d worn the matching outfit on purpose?

“Good,” Tony replied and at least Bucky wasn’t the only one struggling to locate his vocabulary. “The silent auction has managed to raise enough money to hit our target for the night already so that’s… good. Yeah. Sorry, I’m just a bit-”

“I didn’t know,” Bucky cut in, the words tumbling over each other as they left his mouth. “About your costume, I mean. Just in case you’re worried I’m a crazy stalker or something. Crazy, yes. Stalker, no.”

Tony’s laugh was sweet like hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day and Bucky barely held in the shiver that cascaded down his back.

“That should probably worry me but to be honest, I’m just trying to figure out a way to get you to stand up without sounding like a total sleaze.” It was Bucky’s turn to laugh then and after a minute of tearful laughter as his tension released and another of costume makeup panic, Bucky was back on solid footing and not willing to let this moment of fate pass him by.

“I can’t believe there’s another one who believes Nightmare Before Christmas is actually a Christmas movie though,” Natasha spoke up cheekily but Bucky knew it was to give him an out if he needed it.

“Hey! I’ve already had this discussion with one redhead and I’m not quite ready to take on another just yet,” Tony replied and received chuckles all round when he unwittingly imitated a meerkat as he tried to spot Miss Potts in the crowd.

The extra time helped Bucky to get up his nerve.

He held his fleshy hand out towards Tony and didn’t have to wait longer than a second before the billionaire caught on and wrapped it up in his own, helping the Sally to his Jack to her feet, so to speak. Bucky was pretty sure he was blushing as Tony twirled him slowly on the spot to take in his whole outfit. The whistle he let out was almost too much but Tony’s toothy grin held too much delight for Bucky to tease him over it.

“There’s actually something… Okay, so don’t freak out. It was supposed to be funny but I didn’t know then that it would be you and you would be-” Bucky gestured to Tony’s ensemble before reaching up to his false arm. “So this is the first time being an amputee has ever been to my benefit,” Bucky said just before tugging on the false arm and waving at a shocked Tony with it.

“I- Okay, wow. That was unexpected. And genius. I mean you could have given someone a heart attack with that but really, it’s pure brilliance.”

“If I was an asshole, I’d have held that arm out for you to grab.”

“The fact you’re telling me that tells me you thought about it.”

“Only for a second!” Bucky objected but the banter was nice, normal in a way Bucky had been missing without ever realising it.

“Yeah, yeah. You just didn’t want have to cut the party short by killing the host.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’d have danced around you.”

“Oh, you dance?”

“I’ve been known to.” Bucky’s stomach fluttered and he wondered where all this sudden bravery was coming from but, as surprising as it was, he’d be damned if he let it go to waste. “Can’t say I’ve been doing much of it lately though.”

“Well, maybe you were just waiting for the right partner,” Tony said with a smirk and it pulled a rough laugh out of Bucky. He heard a cut-off groan from somewhere on his left but it didn’t really catch his attention, his focus all on Tony.

“You always this cheesy?”

“Only when I’m trying to score a dance with the hottest guy in the room.”

There was that ridiculous blush again and shouldn’t Bucky be too old for that by now?

“Didn’t hear an invitation,” was all he said, much to Tony’s obvious delight. The glint in his eye should have warned Bucky but instead, he was as shocked as everyone else when Tony waved his arm grandly and fell down to one knee, taking Bucky’s hand as he began to sing.

“My dearest guest, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side, where we can laugh into the night and dance together, now and forever. For it is plain as anyone can see, we're simply meant to be.”

“So damn cheesy,” Bucky muttered even as he tried not to swoon; Tony’s voice fit the song as perfectly as the rest of the outfit, deep and smooth and Bucky couldn’t help but imagine it whispering filthy things in his ear.

Bucky pulled his serenader up to his feet to great applause from the rest of the room while Tony himself looked startled at the reminder they weren’t alone. He didn’t move out of Bucky’s space though, just held onto his hand and looked up with eyes that were far too shy for such a large personality. Bucky wanted to take the man apart in the best of ways until all that was left was the truth of him but to do that, they needed their story to begin.

“Meant to be, huh?” Bucky teased.

“Alright, so as amazing as my tech is, I’ve yet to invent a device that sees the future but c’mon,” Tony said rolling his eyes and waving at their costumes, “what were the chances? Wait. I could actually calculate that if it will help.”

It was the perfect opening and if it had been anyone else Bucky would have ignored it, but with the way the night had gone so far, he really couldn’t resist. “Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean you can’t believe it.”

Tony’s face scrunched up adorably, half amused and half disgusted if Bucky had to guess.

“Is that how I sounded because if so, I might owe you an apology because that really was corny. On the other hand, you didn’t have to change a word to fit the moment so kudos for that.”

“Bucky Barnes,” he said after a moment and squeezed the hand he already held in some kind of attempt at a handshake.

“Bucky. Well, there’s got to be a story there. Wait a minute. Barnes.” Tony squinted a little at him before his eyes went wide in surprise once again. “James Barnes! I didn’t even recognise you! Didn’t know you went by Bucky though. Don’t know how I could have missed that.” Tony muttered the last bit to himself and Bucky chose not to get his hopes up too high that it meant Tony had paid special attention to him.

“The short version is an awful middle name, the long one isn’t a story that’s suitable for a family friendly Christmas party I’m afraid, but maybe I’ll tell you another time.” A mess of scars and PTSD, Bucky could count on one hand the number of times he’d volunteered to interact with the outside world through his own free will since his return to the US a few months ago and still have fingers to spare. Yet here he was, unashamedly flirting with a confidence he’d thought he’d lost for good.

“Does that mean it’s a yes to the dancing?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.”

“Hold on!” Clint shouted as they turned towards the couples already twirling around the floor, to varying degrees of success. The band began to play a piece that traditionally accompanied the waltz, much to the pleasure of the guests if the joy and laughter permeating the ballroom were anything to go by. “Don’t think you can rush off without a photo!”

His friends voiced their agreement and Bucky was inclined to love them forever for making sure he’d be able to forever cherish this moment of good fortune. That is until his best friend opened that big mouth of his.

“It’ll serve as photographic evidence for your grandkids when we tell them the story of their grandparents first dance,” Steve said, with an innocent smile he directed straight at Bucky.

Bucky hadn’t thought he could go a deeper shade of red at this point but oh boy, was he wrong. Tony’s reaction, though, was yet another surprise in an evening that had been full of them.

Their gracious host swiftly drew Bucky in close by the hand he still held and said, “Better make it a good one then.”

With an ease that suggested a lot more muscle under that Jack Skellington outfit than the media would have anyone believe, Tony dipped him at the waist and as the two of them fell into each other's eyes, oblivious to the phones and cameras being hastily aimed in their direction, who was going to resist stealing a quick peck from such an extraordinary man?

Bucky could feel Tony’s responding smile against his lips before the other man made sure to make the kiss last longer than Bucky would have dared, new found courage or not.

“Well,” Tony said after they’d righted themselves and their audience went suspiciously quiet, “may I have this dance?”

Whether Tony’s interest lasted beyond this magical party or not, Bucky decided that Steve had been right yet again. This was definitely a Christmas he wanted to remember.

~~~fin~~~

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are love. :D
> 
> I've got a couple of deleted moments I wrote when I forgot (too many times) that I needed everyone to be in _Christmas_ outfits. You can find these over on Tumblr [here](https://missromancejunkie.tumblr.com/post/164937680831/deleted-moments-from-and-a-happy-nightmare-to-you) or alternatively, please let me know if you think I should add them as a second chapter here on AO3. They're not long but I liked what I wrote so I wanted to share them anyway. :)
> 
> Original prompt: _So this is just if you'd like to do a small winteriron in between other projects BUT: Imagine a no powers AU where Tony Stark is throwing a costumed open christmas party/charity event, and Steve is badgering his friend Bucky to join him. Bucky doesn't want to go, but if he has to, he's going all out. He dresses up as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas (because shut up, Steve, it IS a christmas movie), complete with a detatched arm stuffed with leaves._
> 
> _Then it's time for the host to give a speech, and it turns out Stark agrees: He's dressed as Jack Skellington (he doesn't care what Pepper says, if it's got christmas in the title it IS a christmas movie). Steve finds it hilarious that Bucky has unintentionally done a couples costume with their host and is adamant they must now meet so he can take a photo._


End file.
